Dubai-it: ‘I started thinking bigger and faster’ – why Özlem Soydaş chose Dubai for her next chapter

Dubai: When the energy around you matches the energy within, things can move pretty quickly. Targets are achieved, new doors open and you feel in sync with your surroundings.

That’s the biggest takeaway for 39-year-old Turkish-Dutch national Özlem Soydaş, who moved from Amsterdam to Dubai just a few weeks ago.

It wasn’t a move that was years in the making, but it was one that just felt right.

Her biggest inspiration came when last year, she visited the Museum of the Future.

“They dedicated different floors to different concepts but for me the most impressive thing was not all the things that I saw, which were super futuristic, yes. But when I read that these weren’t just concepts, but actual projects Dubai had been working on, that was an ‘aha’ moment,” she said.

“Because it's not just about having the vision for projects. It’s about actually being able to execute them. That for me was the initial spark,” she added.

That spark ignited the change within Soydaş, which was a long time coming.

As a young chemical engineering student in Turkey, she still remembers how she was always in an extremely competitive environment.

“Even in my last year of university, we were all applying to those big multinationals. It was such a big race, you know, to get into the MNCs,” she said.

It was a race she won, securing a job in one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, where she initially worked on product development in the Research and Development department, and then moved up the ranks, always looking to make her mark.

From product development, Soydaş moved to supply chain management, and secured a bigger role at a German-based MNC, ultimately moving to the country.

But as her career gathered momentum, so did the pressure she put on herself. The pace of life in Germany also did not match up with where she felt she wanted to be.

That led to a tipping point for Soydaş personally, where she found herself telling her manager she’d like to move back to Amsterdam.

“I told them that I would be happy if they could find me something in their headquarters in Amsterdam or I was going to resign. I was very serious about it. I remember telling my manager that my wellbeing was more important than my career and that was a big step for me,” she said.

This was the first time Soydaş had listened to what she wanted to do instead of what she was expected to do. And once that connection was established, it only grew stronger.

Over the next few years, as Soydaş moved into corporate coaching, she also began exploring other avenues personally. She learnt yoga and went on to become a yoga teacher in Amsterdam, an experience that left her feeling full instead of depleted.

“That human interaction gave me so much joy and when I enjoy something, I like going deeper. I continued with things like somatic and breathwork training and became a coach as well,” she said.

At work, too, the experience of building workshops and facilitating coaching for high-achievers became a turning point, as she helped her team and other company employees bring out the best in them in a meaningful way.

“I wanted to learn more about this and wanted to shift my career in that direction, so I took a Transformational Coach Course from the London coaching school – AIMAS,” she said.

The internal shift now was in full swing.

Last year, Soydaş decided to quit her job, after she felt like she was pushing herself in a direction that didn’t resonate with her.

“In the corporate world, you're surrounded by ambitious, driven people, but that creates also a lot of pressure and expectation. I was in that situation where I was pushing myself really hard against my internal voices and eventually that led me to a burnout,” she said.

“That was also a key milestone for me, because it was a very difficult period. It took me almost nine months to slowly start feeling myself again,” she said.

Writing her next chapter in life was a more intentional process, where Soydaş wanted to reinvent rather than rebuild her old self back again.

The result was The Essence coaching, where Soydaş works with women who may find themselves in similar situations.

“I want to guide high-achieving, high-functioning women to reach their dreams without really burning themselves out, because it's not really necessary,” she said.

“If we can understand the patterns and behaviours, we can definitely guide ourselves and our desires to the life that we want and deserve. That's what I'm doing at the moment and it's such a fulfilling job, I cannot tell you,” she added.

Last summer, as she visited her friend who works in Dubai, the two went to the Museum of the Future, where Soydaş noticed the city’s transformation visible in each of the projects on display.

Her interactions at networking events she went to also had a big impact.

“I met so many female founders who shared their stories and that excited me so much. I also started to think bigger and faster,” she said.

“The life and the attitude towards innovation is different here. And making things happen has real meaning. This is the energy shift that I wanted to have,” she said.

After working for years in MNCs, where every idea becomes a project, with ‘alignment’ and ‘pre-alignment’ meetings, the ‘Dubai-it’ shift, of working on ambitious ideas with speed and precision, was refreshing.

“Here, the energy is much more about ‘Let’s try and see what happens’ and that’s exactly the approach I like. If you want to do something, just do it,” she said.

From the time she decided to make the move, to finally becoming a Dubai resident last month, that feeling has only grown stronger. Her biggest example to anyone she meets is just how easy it was to register her coaching business in the city.

“I live with two cats and, honestly, bringing my cats to Dubai was harder than setting up the company,” she said.

In just a few weeks, she’s already organised her first workshop, something that surprised another female entrepreneur in the city.

When her friend expressed surprise at how quickly Soydaş had opened shop, her response was simple: “Yeah, that's how things move in Dubai, right?”

For now, she’s happy to just enjoy the “beginner phase” of this new journey she’s set out on, and Dubai, she says, gives her just the right place to be.

“I want to be in an environment where people are creating things. I wanted to have more energy and possibility around me. I have always felt that energy very strongly in Dubai and it perfectly matches the energy I feel in me.”